


When Heroes Fall

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Multi, Women in Refrigerators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-30
Updated: 2006-08-30
Packaged: 2017-12-04 17:02:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Longbow Hunters... where Ollie wasn't in town, and things went worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When Heroes Fall

**Author's Note:**

> I do not endorse the concept of destroying one character to make another have motivation. This grew out of a 'it could have been worse' conversation about Grell's Longbow Hunters. The one redeeming factor to that story was always Grell's intention to have Dinah rise above what had been done to become a champion for victims everywhere. In writing this, I take that away, make it all about the man pain, and give in to one of the worst literary tropes in existence.
> 
> Yet, I did write it, and I refuse to hide embarrassing past works.

Dick would always be thankful later that he was there when the call came. When Roy actually stumbled from a cocky standing position to sitting hard against the back of the sofa, the acrobat wondered what was wrong with Ollie. When tears began filling his eyes, Dick knew it had to be about Dinah.

Roy let the phone slip lifelessly from his grip, caught by Dick as the brunette moved to where he could see Roy's face better. The redhead fell into his lover's waiting arms, howling his pain and grief in such a way Dick knew what the phone call had been about. He held Roy in one strong arm while he called for a private plane to take them immediately to Seattle.

`~`~`~`~`

Bruce picked the phone up with a faint wish that he could sleep at least one hour undisturbed. Such selfishness vanished as he heard his protégé's emotion-thick voice on the other end.

"Bruce? I'm in Seattle, at the city morgue. I'm here with Roy, because they called him in." Dick paused, fighting fresh emotion. "He had to identify Dinah. And Ollie's nowhere to be found or reached."

Bruce felt his heart stop in his chest, remembering the vitality of the woman in question. She had made her debut on his streets, then helped found the Justice League at a younger age than he had been on those streets. 

"Stay there with him. I'll find Oliver." He let just a shade of his emotion color his voice, heard it echoed in Dick's reply.

"Thank you, Bruce."

`~`~`~`~`

Hal's ring was the first indicator their idyll was over. Ollie growled at the prickling sensation the ring made on his bare skin but moved away to slide into his pants when a knock came on the remote cabin door.

"Who the fuck?" he asked, padding to it while Hal slipped into his pants. He swung the door open to see cold blue eyes staring under a cowl at him. That and the tight jaw told him something had required his attention elsewhere, but he was unrepentant.

Until he noted the faint traces of those eyes being red-rimmed.

"What is it, Bruce? Roy?" Ollie asked, hurrying to go get his shoes and shirt, all thoughts of Hal and their sleepy little getaway forgotten.

"He does need you." The Dark Knight sounded human, not Battish, as he said it, refusing to look at Hal even a moment. "It's Dinah." He kept his eyes on Ollie the whole time. "She's been killed."

Not even Hal's ring could catch the blonde as he fell in prostrate grief from those three little words.

`~`~`~`~`

The funeral was packed, with the various members of Dinah's life that had the ability to be there in secret identity. The large turnout was almost a mockery in Roy's eyes, as he tried hard to stay strong for the woman's memory. All those heroes in one room, though, and none of them had been there for Dinah when she most needed it. The thought made him want to scream, and he almost did when his eye fell on Ollie. Then he thought of Dinah, and realized the elder archer was suffering more than anyone in this room could possibly imagine.

They had chosen a closed casket. Roy had refused to let Ollie see Dinah as he had, lifeless and showing the viciousness of her murderer's handiwork. Ollie had pleaded with Bruce to get access to the case data for him, having learned that her murderers had all been accounted for, killed with Asian arrows. So far Bruce had refused.

Hal was not present. He had been the one to wheedle Ollie into going away, after Dinah had insisted she could handle her case alone. Since Bruce arrived for them, and they had come to Seattle, Hal had been consumed with guilt. It was made ten times worse when Ollie simply stopped seeing him as being in the room, locking Hal completely out of existence, as far as his world went. Rumor had it Hal was back in Coast City, trying to drink away his guilt.

After the necessary rituals and ceremony, Dinah was buried in the cemetery near what had been her last home, a place she had found soon after moving there, and a place she had often gone to find peace and quiet. Ollie had insisted that be her resting place, so she would still be near him. The home and florist shop technically belonged to Roy now; Dinah and Ollie had long ago made the younger archer their sole beneficiary in their wills. That had floored Roy, who had never known just how truly Dinah felt he was her family. Now he did, and it bothered him that he had never really been able to show her how much he owed her for all her support.

`~`~`~`~`

They waited almost three months to hold the memorial for Black Canary. This service was held in Gotham, her hometown. This gathering was even larger, and Batman had to provide a partial amnesty for certain people who came, like Count Vertigo…currently unwanted by the law, but uneasily watched through the event. Green Lantern did attend this one, but Green Arrow did not. Arsenal had been unable to pry the man from his ashram, and was unwilling to push it to shouting.

It was after this gathering that Nightwing found time to speak to Batman about the older hero, Green Arrow. He nodded briefly to Robin, pleased at least the street tough kid had been calm today for the events. Only Nightwing had been visibly at the service from the Bat Clan, as the entire Titans team supported Arsenal.

"He's training rigorously. Arsenal says he won't speak. This kid at the ashram, Connor…he's been learning from Arrow, but it's all by mimicry."

"The man is in deep shock." Still, Batman would keep an eye on the situation. "Dick…just so you know…" He reached out and squeezed the young man's shoulder, making Robin smirk.

"I know…and I'm sorry…"

"It's behind us now. We're going to remember what this taught us." So many in their community had seen the deep love between Arrow and Canary, and it had driven many to mend fences, to see her ripped out of his life like that.

`~`~`~`~`

It was five months since the killing when the hero community learned Green Arrow had returned to the streets. If his take downs seemed particularly harsh, no one said anything, at first. The archer hunted the street predators with grim efficiency, pinning them to walls or the streets for police to find.

It was after fifth Arrow incident that Batman really noticed a pattern. He was glancing over police photos of a busted drug deal when he saw the arrows' placements.

Oliver had seen the crime photos of Dinah's wounds, the cuts and abrasions. Every arrow that held a drug dealer was exactly placed for the less crippling wounds his lover had suffered. And as the time had gone by, in each of the busts Ollie had done, he was using more arrows to accomplish what he needed, marking more wounds in effigy.

Batman swore under his breath and called Arsenal. He had no doubt that Ollie was on track to step over the edge.

`~`~`~`~`

The redhead ran his fingers through his hair, reviewing the crime photos in the Bat Cave. He could see the pattern, see the viciousness building in his surrogate father's style. He just did not want to admit what he knew to be true.

"How do we stop him from crossing the line, Arsenal?" Batman asked, deep and gravelly tonight.

"I don't really…." He cut himself off at the look, flushing. It had been a hard time so far, trying to juggle all his responsibilities and find the right way to try and reach out to Ollie. If Dick had not moved in with him, he might have joined Ollie's slide into insanity. "I don't know that we can. He's cut Hal and me completely out of his life, ad she was the only one he ever seemed to listen to."

"You and I both know this dishonors her memory, and it is going to cost him his freedom, if he's not stopped." Batman looked at the crime photos one more time. "I would say we have no more than two more busts like this before he uses a fatal arrow."

"Then we need a plan, and we need to get busy."

`~`~`~`~`

"He's being driven," J'onn said solemnly. "There is a black wall across his mind, but I do feel the fierce drive." He looked at Arsenal and Batman sadly; the Martian felt Oliver's pain too keenly.

"He had intended to ask her to marry him soon," Arsenal mentioned. "That's how serious it was for them, after so long of trying to pretend it was casual."

"Did you catch anything more, J'onn?" Blue eyes met alien spheres, and he promised himself that he would come visit the Martian soon, having forgotten how J'onn probably had taken the loss in his 'family'. 

"He believes he sees her," J'onn admitted. Batman's head snapped to Arsenal, and the younger man's eyes widened.

"We need Deadman," Batman declared.

`~`~`~`~`

Arsenal/Deadman peered down into the ashram courtyard, Batman at his side. "Yep, old Bats, she's there. Looks miserable as all get out, crying and showing her death marks."

"Why?!" Batman was angry; bad enough she had been killed, but to be one of those trapped in the limbo of not moving on was an unfair fate for a woman who had given everything to the good fight.

"Pretty heavy fetters binding her to that Robin Hood fella," the circus performer turned sage of the dead said.

"How do we break them? How do we help them both?"

"Gonna need someone to convince him to let her go." Boston smacked his lips as he looked at the tragic ghost. "By the size of those fetters, that's going to be a tough job."

`~`~`~`~`

Batman knew he was running out of time, as he and Arsenal tried to find Green Arrow in the slums of Star City. Zatanna was doing a good job of keeping up, not complaining and obviously concentrating on her spells. Arsenal ducked left suddenly and the other two kept pace just barely. All three came to a sudden and drastic stop, finding a grisly tableau with Green Arrow standing there, arrow notched for the kill.

"Don't!" Arsenal shouted, unlimbering his bow to stop this. Batman held his arm up, nodding to Zatanna, noting how stiff Green Arrow looked, the haggard countenance that spoke of a slip in reality.

"Evig thgis dna dnuos ot eht Yranac!" Zatanna cried out, her words gibberish to Batman, but the sudden harsh wind a clear indication of the magic effort she had used. Ahead, where he watched Green Arrow, the appalling sight of Black Canary formed. Arsenal fell to his knees with a sob, seeing the bruises, the gashes, the raw marks at wrists and ankles as she appeared next to Ollie. The hunter faltered, his bow dipping from the kill mark, and Batman started to take advantage of it.

"No…she's got to stop this," Arsenal said weakly. "Or he'll be insane." The older hero nodded, reaching down to rest a hand on the young one's shoulder in quiet sympathy.

`~`~`~`~`

"Don't, Oliver." The soft words, spoken with pain almost shattered the archer then and there. He slowly turned to behold the woman he loved, his eyes betraying the pain of seeing her in the torn blue shirt, a shirt drenched in her own blood from a myriad of cuts.

"Pretty Bird, they took you from me!" he cried out. "I wasn't there to save you!" The driven man fell to his knees, and the spirit moved closer, hugging her arms around her exposed skin. 

"No, you weren't, my love." The ghost knelt, her eyes haunted by her suffering and his. "But this…this will only take you from me forever," she told him gently, laying an ethereal hand on his cheek, making him feel the coolness of the other side briefly. "This is not us, or even you."

"If we had been tougher," he began. 

"No, Oliver. This is not the way." Tears tracked her cheeks, and he tried to brush them away, only to find he could not touch her. "You have to let me go, this vengeance…"

"Take me with you," he begged, breaking down into tears, the first since Bruce had told him.

"It's not your time," Dinah whispered sadly. "I have to wait for you." She ran her fingers through his hair with the effect of a gentle breeze. "Go to our boy, Ollie. Let me go, and let go of this vengeance."

"You're hurting still," he whispered. "Because I'm holding you here," he said, looking into her eyes, past the swollen bruises and marks of countless knives. She nodded sadly.

"I love you, Oliver. Have since I met you, years ago."

"Pretty Bird…" he bowed his head, hiding the tears as he consciously released his pain at losing her, the need to have her there with him.

"I'll be waiting," she whispered, fading out as his letting go dissolved Zatanna's spell.

`~`~`~`~`


End file.
